This is growing at the base of a rose that was badly sunburnt back at the end of summer and appears to be making a promising recovery, with a lot of new growth farther up.
I realise these are horrid pictures, I genuinely could not get any better ones, I’m sorry.
It reminds me of when cuttings make a lot of callous and then have a hard time producing roots… But I doubt that’s it. Some of it is attached to the base and the other clumps on the soild appears to have come apart from it.
Could it be crown gall? Crown galls do not normally crumble into pieces like that, do they?
I would take a cutting or two right away, to propagate in fresh, clean mix just in case. It does resemble the crown gall that got my Quadra this year. I was crushed, but have several cuttings rooting up that should be good to go in spring. Sets my breeding-plans back a year or two for that particular set of genetics, but I’m glad to have saved the plant. It’s hard to find now.
Doesn’t crown gall get passed on from a plant that has it even if you propagate it via cuttings of unaffected stems or even budding? That was my understanding at least. I could be wrong.
Crown gall disease is spread by contaminated tools, soil, water, and via propagation of infected rootstocks or plant material. Your assumption is therefore correct.
